Google launched Android Studio 3.4 on April 17th and it is ready for download on new versions of Windows, Linux and Mac. The latest version of its IDE (integrated development environment), which comes with a limited set of focused features and it addresses the workflows of the core developer for resource management and app building. The main features of Android Studio 3.4 are as follows.

1.Develop

Resource Manager

Asset management (layouts, drawables, colors) and lookup become a headache for larger projects. Resource Manager is the new tool window to switch between different assets. With a better UI and previews in place, it’s easy to locate stuff.You can open the tool window by selecting View > Tool Windows > Resource Manager from the menu bar.

Resource manager provides various functionalities like:Visualize resources, Bulk import, Convert SVGs into VectorDrawable objects, Drag and drop assets, Drag and drop assets and Tile and list views.

Import Intentions

As you work with new Jetpack and Firebase libraries, Android Studio 3.4 will recognize common classes in these libraries and suggest, via code intentions, adding the required import statement and library dependency to your Gradle project files. This optimization can be a time saver since it keeps you in the context of your code. Moreover, since Jetpack libraries are modularized, Android Studio can find the exact library or minimum set of libraries required to use a new Jetpack class.

Layout Editor Properties Panel

The Attributes inspector is much improved and clear in its UI. It consists of collapsible sections of attributes. A much better color picker is available.

To improve product refinement and polish we refreshed the Layout Editor Properties panel. Now we just have one single pane, with collapsible sections for properties. Additionally, errors and warnings have their own highlight color, we have a resource binding control for each property, and we have an updated color picker.

IntelliJ Platform Update

Android Studio 3.4 includes Intellij 2018.3.4. This update has a wide range of improvements from support for multi-line TODOs to an updated search everywhere feature.

2. Build

New Project Structure Dialog

A much-needed feature. Now you can change Gradle settings from the Project Structure with a much-improved UI.

Android Studio 3.4 includes the next phase of improvement in the Product Structure Dialog (PSD). The new PSD allows you to see and add dependencies to your project at a module level.

Although the latest Gradle plugin v3.4 also has improvements, you do not have to upgrade your Gradle plugin version number to take advantage of the new PSD

R8 replaces Proguard

After staying on the bench for too long, R8 has now replaced Proguard as the default code shrinker. It was always more efficient than Proguard. R8 would be the default code shrinker from 3.4 gradle. R8 code shrinking helps reduce the size of your APK by getting rid of unused code and resources as well as making your actual code take less space

3. Test

Android Emulator Skin updates & Android Q Beta Emulator System Image

Inside of Android Studio 3.4 we released the latest Google Pixel 3 & Google Pixel 3 XL device skins. Also with this release, you can also download Android Q Beta emulator system images for app testing on Android Q. Please note that we do recommend running the canary version of Android Studio and the emulator to get the latest compatibility changes during the Android Q Beta program.